


Childhood Home

by Untoward



Category: EastEnders (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-16
Updated: 2020-03-16
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:48:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23165017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Untoward/pseuds/Untoward
Summary: “Just missing my Gran, I guess,” Ben shrugs his shoulder as if it’s not a big deal, “I never really think about it, but when I do, being in this pub brings back a lot of memories.”“It’s crazy, that you lived here, that a pub was your childhood home.” Ben had told him about his life here before but it’s still a shock to him.“I never thought about it as a pub, it was always just, home,” he takes in a deep breath, “home with my Gran and my dad and later, my cousins. This place holds some bad memories but also good ones, beautiful ones.”
Relationships: Callum "Halfway" Highway/Ben Mitchell
Comments: 2
Kudos: 91





	Childhood Home

**Author's Note:**

> For the beautiful bencal

_March 2020_

_The Queen Victoria, Walford._

When Callum walked into The Vic, he was more than ready for a pint. The day was filled with filling and engravings and comforting people who have just lost a loved one. Callum thought being in the job for the better part of a year would make him immune to some of the stories he hears, but today hit him more than usual.

A woman, Mel, had come in to arrange a funeral for her daughter. Her 13-year-old daughter. She didn’t go into much detail, but it was a stabbing outside her school. She had died in the arms of her teacher and all Callum could think about was Lexi. Lexi, who was safely in school and would be picked up by Ben at half three. But she was growing up rather fast, and in three years’ time she will be in secondary school, where she can be vulnerable to things like that.

Callum had gone upstairs during his lunch break and had a little cry. He knew he wasn’t Lexi’s step dad, even though Lola joked about Lexi having three dads all the time, even though Ben always had a smile on his face when he saw them interact and afterwards he would say, _so I guess you’re the fun dad, huh?_ But he still loved her and cared enough about her to be worried.

He had received a text from Ben that said _pint at the vic later?_ And Callum had replied with an eager, _yes please._

Callum saw the back of Ben’s head when he walked through the door and his chest felt a little lighter than it had all day. He smiled at the thought that Ben had that effect on him, and he suddenly couldn’t wait for the time when they’re a little older. When work become just that little more tiring but the thought of seeing each other at home at the end of the day gets them through.

Slowly, he approaches Ben and reaches his hand up to run through Ben’s hair gently. Ben jumps a little, startled at the touch but he soon smiles when he looks up to see his boyfriend. Ben leans his head into the hand. Callum smiles back at Ben, and doesn’t say anything in greeting, he just leans forward and to give him a kiss on the lips. It’s a small, chaste kiss, nothing more than a peck but when Ben leans back Callum is chasing his lips, deepening the kiss. Ben makes a humming sound against Callum’s lip, and Callum smiles at that. Ben has always been vocal, but since his additional hearing loss he seems to be making more sounds when they are intimate in any way.

When they pull back both wear cheesy smiles, and Callum perches in the stool next to him, flagging Mick down to order a pint.

“So, what was that all about, hm?” Ben say’s with a smirk, “You’re not usually that affectionate outside.”

He was right, they do share pecks outside when they’re saying goodbye, but nothing prolonged. Callum just gave him a shrug.

“I just missed you a lot today, I guess.” Callum looked directly at Ben, making sure to talk slowly and clearly. Ben focused on his lips and after a few moments he just nodded.

“I missed you too.” Ben places his hand on Callum’s thigh and Callum puts his hand on Ben’s, lacing their fingers together.

They don’t speak to each other for a while, just nursing their drinks while Callum runs his thumb against the back of Ben’s hand. They do this sometimes, just sit and be in each other’s company. It’s comforting, especially to Ben, and Callum is more than happy to sit and say nothing. Just being with him is enough.

Callum looks back at Ben, who is gazing at one of the pictures behind the bar. His eyes are a little glassy and distant and when Callum follows his gaze, he realises what he’s looking at.

He nudges Ben’s hand and Ben looks over ta him, a small smile on his lips.

“Are you okay?” He asks and then nods his head towards the picture behind the bar. “Want to talk about anything?

“Just missing my Gran, I guess,” Ben shrugs his shoulder as if it’s not a big deal, “I never really think about it, but when I do, being in this pub brings back a lot of memories.”

“It’s crazy, that you lived here, that a pub was your childhood home.” Ben had told him about his life here before but it’s still a shock to him.

“I never thought about it as a pub, it was always just, home,” he takes in a deep breath, “home with my Gran and my dad and later, my cousins. This place holds some bad memories but also good ones, beautiful ones.”

“Tell me about them.” Callum say’s gently. Ben has told him about somethings that have happened in his childhood, the good and the bad. They have both exchanged stories of the heartbreak they faced as children and it would always end in Ben saying he would never let Lexi experience anything he ever did. That he would always make her feel loved and wanted, but Ben avoided detail about the bad stuff and the conversation was over before he knew it.

He barely told him about any good memories.

“I will,” Ben said with a small smile, “but not right now, lets just have a pint and talk about trivial things and then go home and have amazing sex.”

Callum let out a little laugh and nodded his head, before saying one more thing. “Even with all the bad things, did you like living here?”

“I loved it; I still love walking in here. Reminds me of my Gran. If Mick and Linda ever put this place up for sale, I would buy it in a heartbeat.”

_1 year later_

“What you doing up here, Halfwit?” Shirley ask’s as she walks into the kitchen, going to boil the kettle.

Callum rolls his eyes a little, “I’ve told you before, Shirley, it’s Half _way_.”

“Yeah, and I know that, you div.” She turns around to face him, leaning against the kitchen counter and folding her hands across her chest. “I just love teasing you, don’t I?”

Callum smiles at that and she smiles back at him, and he is suddenly hit with a wave of nostalgia. When he first came to Walford and stayed with The Carters, when he worked downstairs, when Shirley used to tease him, but he knew it was out of love. His life was different now and better for so many reasons. From Ben to Lola, Lexi and Jay to finally feeling comfortable in his skin. It was better, but he still missed it sometimes and that’s okay.

“You here to see Mick?” Shirley asked as she poured milk into her cup of tea.

“Yeah, we haven’t seen each other in a while, thought it would be nice.”

“Hm, well, I hope you enjoy your date.” Shirley says with a smile and finishes making her cup of tea, she goes to leave the kitchen but not before ruffling Callum’s hair. He moved away from her hand and huffed in annoyance, trying to get his hair back in order. Shirley just let out a chuckle and left the room.

Soon, Mick came in and made them two cups of tea. He set one in front of Callum and he took a sip before turning back to Mick. They talk for a while, about what’s new in their lives and soon Callum asks.

“How’s Linda?”

“Good,” Mick say’s quickly, a smile on his face “She’s doing really, really good.”

Callum smiles back, taking a jaffa cake from the table and biting into it, he swallows it before replying. “That’s good to hear.”

“Yeah, she’s doing so well, we’re actually, ah –“ Mick cuts himself off, hesitates a little bit but Callum presses him on.

“You’re what?”

“We haven’t actually told anyone yet, but we’ve decided to sell the pub.”

Callum snorted into his cup of tea; it went all over the table.

“Bloody hell, Halfway, you got milk all over my kitchen counter.” Mick gets up and grabs a dishcloth, wiping down the table.

“You’re selling this place?”

“Yeah,” Mick says, sitting back down “Yeah, Linda is doing really well, and we don’t want anything to hinder her process, probably best that we don’t live in a place that’s filled with booze.”

“And how do you feel about that?”

“Good, I love this place, but I love her more, I’ll do anything to help her and this is the right thing to do.”

Callum nods his head, running his fingers up and down the mug in is hands, suddenly remembering a conversation that was had a year ago, in this very pub.

“Have any ideas of who you’re going to sell this place too?” Callum asks, lifting his head from the mug to look at Mick.

“No idea, if you think of someone, send them my way.” Mick gets up and claps Callum on the shoulder.

//

“C’mon, Ben, let’s go.” Callum says as Ben put on his coat, and Ben raises his eyebrows.

“Why are you so excited? We’re only going for a pint at The Vic.” Ben pauses and shakes his head slightly. “What have you got planned? It better not be anything embarrassing.”

“What? No,” Callum shakes his head quickly “I’ve got nothing planned I just really want a pint, I’ve had a long day.”

Ben smiles and puts his arms around Callum’s waist, pulling him closer. He leans up and gives him a chaste kiss on his lips, smiling into it. “How were the kids today?”

“Not the best, but healing is a process,” Callum say’s honestly, before kissing Ben again. “They’re getting there, though.”

“I’m so proud of you, you know that, right?” Ben say’s honestly, a smile on his face. “They look up to you, even though they might not show that sometimes, they do.”

“I know.” Callum says honestly before taking in a deep breath, “Come on now, pub, of we go.”

“Okay, okay. I still think you’re up to something.”

Callum said nothing back, just hummed in response. They walked the short distance from the house to The Vic, hand in hand. 

When they got there, Callum pushed the door open and held it open for Ben. Ben furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and muttered “weirdo” before walking in. Callum walked in behind him and ran into Ben. Callum raised his hands to the side of Ben’s arms and squeezed the, Ben looked around the pub, his face twisted in confusion.

“Uh, why are we the only ones in the pub on a Friday night?” Ben asked, turning his head to look up at Callum. There were no punters or anyone working behind the bar. The place was barren, Callum just shrugged his shoulders.

“I don’t know, that is weird, shall we go upstairs and see Mick and Linda?”

“Why would we – “

“Come on!” Callum pushes Ben forward and leads Ben through the bar and up the stairs. Callum makes his way into the living room and sits on the sofa. Ben pauses at the door, looks around the room and then back at Callum

“Can you please explain to me what is going on? You’re starting to scare me now.”

Callum lets out a chuckle. “Come, sit with me first.”

Ben makes his way over and sits on the sofa with Callum. Callum puts his arms around Ben’s shoulder and Ben quickly rests himself on Callum’s side. Callum brings his hands up to his hair and gently runs his fingers through it. Ben lets out a sigh of content.

“When I was about 8 I started having dance lessons,” Ben said “My mum, before I moved to Walford, she got me into musicals and when I got here I really wanted to take up some dancing but I was scared, scared about what my dad would think. My Gran, she let me go to some lessons secretly, would take me every week.” Ben took in a deep breath and pointed to the other end of the sofa. “Right over there was when my dad found out and I was scared, Gran knew that and she tried to cover up for me, bless her. When I told him the truth she defended me. It’s one of my favourite memories of her, even though it wasn’t the best situation, she really would do anything for me.”

Callum said nothing, he just kissed Ben’s head in encouragement.

“And once, my dad was angry at me for some reason and I was stood over there,” he pointed at the entrance and carried on “and he was threatening to hurt me and I couldn’t stop crying but Gran had a go at him and – I don’t know, I guess I always just felt safe when she was around.”

“Which one was your room?” Callum asked softly and Ben looked at him, a bit hesitant. “Go one, no one’s going to have a go.”

Ben shrugged his shoulders and got up from the sofa. Callum stood up and laced his fingers through Ben’s and rubbed the back of his hand with his thumb. Ben looked down at their now connected hands and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, but Callum just smiled at him and Ben carried on walking towards the door.

They walk into the room that is opposite the stairs and Ben stares at the far wall. He slowly let’s go of Callum’s hand walks towards the wall, staring at it for a few moments and then looked back at Callum.

“When I first came here, from South Africa, my dad was trying to… connect with me, I guess. Me and him, we started a Mitchell Family tree, on this wall,” Ben let out a sad smile and it made Callum’s heartache. “Gran went crazy when Louise told me off but, it was one of the first and only good memories I have with my dad.”

Callum comes over to stand in front of him, and cups Ben’s cheeks, pulling him in for a kiss. They kiss for a few moments and Ben pulls him away, his eyes closed and his mouth slightly open.

Ben slowly opens his eyes and breathes out; “What’s going on, Cal?”

“What do you mean?” Callum say’s, running his thumb over Ben’s cheeks.

“Why are we stood upstairs in The Vic, with no one in it.” Ben shakes his head slightly before adding. “On a Friday night.”

“You know how I went to see Mick the other day?” Callum asked, taking his hands from Ben’s face and going down to lace their hands together again.

“Yeah?”

“Well, apparently, Linda is doing really well.”

“Right.” Ben said slowly, not too sure with where this was going.

“So well, in fact, they don’t want anything messing up her process so Mick might have mentioned to me that they were selling the pub.”

Ben’s face suddenly drops, and his voice goes a little bit high when he says. “Callum, what have you – “

“And I may have remembered a conversation I had, about a year ago, with someone who you used to live here and they said that if this place ever went up for sale – “

“Cal, - “

“That they would buy it so, I may have, done something.” Callum looks at Ben nervously and he lifts his hand, that holds keys.

Ben’s eyes go wide and glassy as he looks from Callum to the keys and then back at Callum.

“I know it’s a big life decision and I should have probably talked to you about it and I know you have the Arches and Car lot to think about but I wanted it to be a surprise.”

Ben still doesn’t say anything, he is just looking at Callum with a blank expression.

“Ben, please, say something.” Callum says nervously. “You can shout at me if you want but you always have something to say so – yeah.”

Ben takes in a deep breath before whispering, “You got The Vic for me?”

“Well,” Callum was going to jump into an explanation, but he just shrugged his shoulders and looked at Ben. “Yeah.”

Ben lunges at him, wraps his hands around Callum’s neck and kisses him so as much passion as he can muster. Callum loses his balance and falls back onto the bed. Ben straddles Callum’s hips and opens up is mouth, letting out a moan Ben pulls back just a little, his mouth still lingering against Callum’s and he whispers. “I can’t believe you,” he kisses his lips quickly “You are actually crazy,” he kisses him one more time. “I love you so, so much.”

“I love you too.” Callum says with a smile and Ben backs away from Callum, still straddling his hips.

“But what about your job,” Ben says honestly, cupping Callum’s cheek and stroking it softly. “You’re finally doing something you care about, something you love. Running a pub is hard and it’s your whole life and I don’t want to take that away from you.”

Callum takes his hands and runs them up and down Ben’s thighs soothingly before sighing. “I thought about it, a lot. But I think I’m going to try and juggle both. Shirley still wants to work here and Tracy and there will be you,” Ben cheeses at that “But if we can’t handle it then I’d be more than happy to leave, I just want us to be happy Ben and I think this would be good for us.”

Ben can’t stop smiling and he runs his hand from Callum’s cheek down to his chest. “You are the most amazing person; Callum and I can’t wait for us to run this pub together.” Ben smirks at him and adds, “The Mitchell’s, back in the pub.”

Callum raises his eyebrow at that. “The Mitchell’s, huh? Since when I become one of those?”

“Hmm, not yet, but maybe soon.”

Callum’s heart flutters at that, and grabs Ben’s hips and flips him over, so they are both laying side by side on the bed. “I am not taking your surname; we can double barrel.”

“I’ll think about it.” Ben says and leans in for a kiss. “Love you.” He mumbles into Callum’s lips and Callum smiles.

“I love you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all for reading. Please leave a comment on your thoughts and feelings haha.  
> babygaycal


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